Group proposal by Noël Madland, Manci Zhu, and Florence Gao
- – a description of the topic
- Animal cruelty, specifically against dolphins, starting with The Cove documentary on Taiji, Japan
- – your objectives – long view ideas for change
- End the dolphin murders
- End animal cruelty in general by finding better ways to feed humans without destroying ecosystems
- – your goals – short term, small steps to initiate social change
- Explain dolphins’ intelligence, how they experience trauma
- Show how the killing is a bad influence on children in the area
- Explain dolphins’ importance to the ecosystem
- Call on people in Japan to stop buying dolphin meat
- Encourage supermarkets in Japan to reject dolphin meat from companies and fishermen.
- – who is the audience?
- In short term, the new generation worldwide that has access to internet and social media, to recognize the problem and put pressure on the dolphin trade industry in Japan.
- Ultimately, the Japanese lawmakers in charge of environmental protection and the Japanese meat market
- The new generation of Japanese citizens who can stop buying dolphin
meat and push for better environmental protection laws
- – 5 ideas to achieve your goals
- Traditional reaction video
- Zine
- Posters
- Performance piece (synchronized swimmers in a red pool)
- Immersive experience from the perception of the intellectual animal dolphin (surrounded by 1. sound of waves, dolphin’s tapping in the water, fisherman’s sound……2. Smell of blood and the sea)
- Put paintings in public place and capture how people react with camera.
- – 5 sketches / visualization
- Sketches for poster:
- Visualization for pool performance
- Visualization for immersive experience
- – at least 1 inspiration – an artistic activist project that speaks to you
- https://www.instagram.com/p/BwziXWGIXdi/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzuSULcqgxQ
- https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/dolphin-meat-cruel-toxic-and-wasteful/
- https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/save-japan-dolphins/frequently-asked-questions/
- “There is another essential and rather shocking aspect to the dolphin hunt: During a meeting with the Taiji fishermen in January 2004, the fishermen told us that they not only hunt dolphins for their meat and for sale to the dolphinarium industry, but they hunt them “as a form of pest control.” From the fishermen’s perspective, the dolphins eat too much fish, and the fishermen are simply killing the competition. This was the first time Japanese dolphin hunters openly admitted to executing pest control on dolphins.
Overfishing of the oceans is a tremendous problem on a global level, and the Japanese fishermen, supported by their government, are wrongly blaming the dolphins for this depletion. The Japanese government is making the same false argument in front of the International Whaling Commission – that whales eat fish and therefore need to be controlled by killing.”
Two synchronised swimmers have performed in a pool full of plastic to highlight the problem of pollution. Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe carried out their World Championship routine doing their best to avoid drinking bottles, toiletries, carrier bags and containers. It’s the kind of plastic waste that is being dumped into the world’s oceans, causing serious issues for marine animals.
Why it speaks to us:
The synchronized swimming performance is visually powerful and straight forward, having humans instead of marine lifes struggling among plastic. Also, this is a smart combination of art and environmental protection. It indicates that marine lives are supposed to be moving freely in clean water, just as the synchronized swimming should be performed and appreciated in clean water.
How we relate it to our proposal:
Empathy is the key element in this activism art.
- If swimmers are put into a bay to perform, with all the water dyed to red, just as shown in the Documentary where the entire bay got red with dolphin blood, the vision will be shocking, and the audience will immediately realize that this is an immoral holocaust.
- Immersive experience from the perception of the intellectual animal dolphin. Set up a dark room. Have the audience surrounded by sounds and smell to experience and imagine the holocaust that once happened in th Dolphin Bay.
-1. sound of waves/ dolphin’s tapping in the water/ fisherman’s sound.
-2. Smell of blood/ smell of the sea
- Sketch/visualization of zine
5: Visualization of reaction video
